Did the Contestant From Pittsburgh Win Again Last Night
RYE — When she worked as a hotel concierge, Maureen O'Neil's trivia skills came in handy the time a guest called in a rush and asked her to name the capital of Latvia.
She quickly relayed the correct answer: Riga. The man hung up but called back a few minutes later to thank O'Neil for her quiz prowess.
Crediting her mother and her love of "Jeopardy!" for her trivia knowledge, O'Neil's skills have paid off on the popular quiz show's national TV stage.
For the second straight night, O'Neil was crowned the winner of "Jeopardy!" on Tuesday's episode, bringing her two-day cash winnings total to $21,000 and giving her a shot to defend her hot streak in Wednesday night's show. The executive assistant from Rye Beach first managed a win on Monday's episode after a risky wager from a fellow contestant during the "Final Jeopardy!" round, when neither contestant gave the correct response.
O'Neil told Ken Jennings, the show's host and record-holder with 74 straight "Jeopardy!" games won in 2004, the story about her assistance to the hotel guest during Tuesday's episode.
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"So there it was — full service concierge.," she said, wrapping up the story.
The Seacoast resident was matched up against first-time players Miranda Wilson, an occupational therapist from Fayetteville, West Virginia, and Gundeep Singh, an analyst from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.
Picking up where she left off
Similar to the majority of her first "Jeopardy" win, O'Neil showed dominance in Tuesday's show from the start, correctly answering four of the first six opening-round questions.
Showcasing her knowledge on categories such as reality show spinoffs, oceans and facts containing the number "11," O'Neil led the pack at the end of the round with $4,200. Wilson finished the opening round with $3,800 and Singh had $2,600.
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O'Neil also led at the conclusion of the "Double Jeopardy!" round with $9,400, though Singh was close behind with $8,600 and Wilson within striking distance at $6,200. In the second round, O'Neil continued her reign on pop culture questions, answering three of the five clues listed in a category about the Academy Awards.
Tuesday night's "Final Jeopardy!" clue was also tied to the performance arts and coincidentally shared O'Neil's first name.
Under the category "Broadway musicals," the final clue stated: "Characters Mark, Roger and Maureen in this musical were inspired by Marcello, Rodolfo and Musetta in another work."
The answer to the clue was "What is Rent?" which debuted on Broadway in April 1996.
Jennings noted a smiling O'Neil was visibly excited before the show revealed her handwritten final answer and wager.
"The name doesn't come up often," she remarked as her correct answer was shown on-screen.
Betting her entire winnings from Tuesday's episode to that point, O'Neil won the game with a final score of $18,800.
Singh bet $8,599 but answered "Bye Bye Birdie," dropping him to $1. Wilson also answered correctly but only put down $6,000, not enough to catch O'Neil as she finished in second place with $12,200.
O'Neil's "Final Jeopardy!" strategy was the same formula unsuccessfully employed by contestant Margaret Shelton, the returning champion in the previous episode who came in with a four-game win streak, on Monday night.
Shelton, a homemaker from Pittsburgh, bet her entire $12,300 show winnings in Monday's "Final Jeopardy!" round but gave only half of the correct answer, bringing her total to $0 and allowing O'Neil to leapfrog her and win the game with a final of $2,200.
At the start of Tuesday evening's show, Jennings spoke of O'Neil's first victory after Shelton's dicey play. A third contestant on Monday, Las Vegas-based SAT and ACT tutor Clay Cooper, was eliminated from competing in "Final Jeopardy!" because he finished the second round with negative earnings.
"Well somehow you still won! And here you are," Jennings said to O'Neil.
After her first victory on Monday, O'Neil got a social media shoutout from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who wrote on Twitter, "Big congratulations to New Hampshire's own Maureen O'Neil on winning @Jeopardy last night! Way to go!"
The Seacoast resident was set to compete for her third consecutive "Jeopardy!" win on Wednesday night's show, in which she'll take on Washington D.C. environmental advocate Shelley Vinyard and Sallie Bieterman, an actor and museum educator originally from Seattle.
Information: jeopardy.com
Source: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2022/03/09/jeopardy-maureen-oneil-rye-beach-nh-wins-again/9437878002/
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